Deposit

DEPOSIT de-poz'-it (paratheke, 1 Timothy 6:20; 2 Timothy 1:12,14 the Revised Version, margin, paraphrased in both the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) into "that which is committed" (see COMMEND)):

The noun was used in the classical Greek, just as its English equivalents, for "that which is placed with another for safe keeping," a charge committed to another's hands, consisting often of money or property; compare Exodus 22:7; Leviticus 6:2. This practice was common in days when there were no banks.

(1) In 1 Timothy 6:20; also 2 Timothy 1:14, the reference is to a deposit which God makes with man, and for which man is to give a reckoning. The context shows that this deposit is the Christian faith, "the pattern of sound words" (2 Timothy 1:13), that which is contrasted with the "oppositions of the knowledge which is falsely so called" (1 Timothy 6:20). "Keep the talent of the Christian faith safe and undiminished" (Vincentius Lirenensis).

(2) In 2 Timothy 1:12, the deposit is one which man makes with God. The key to the meaning of this expression is found probably in Psalms 31:5:

"Into thy hand I commend my spirit: Thou hast redeemed me," i.e. "All that I am, with all my interests, have been entrusted to Thy safe keeping, and, therefore, I have no anxieties with respect to the future. The day of reckoning, `that day,' will show how faithful are the hands that hold this trust."

H. E. Jacobs

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Bibliography Information

Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Entry for 'DEPOSIT'".  "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia".  1915.